Adoption Orders

The adoption process can be complex and intricate. If you are a single person or a couple considering adoption you will have thought about numerous factors and the child’s welfare will be at the heart of this.

An adoption order has the effect of permanently severing the legal ties between the child and the birth parents (except in the case of partner adoptions). Any orders which existed before the making of an adoption order will be extinguished and the birth parents will become former parents.

The birth parent is an automatic party to adoption proceedings unless he or she has given notice that they do not wish to be informed of the proceedings. They will not receive notification of the application but will be given notice of the final hearing.

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Adoption proceedings may continue beyond the young person’s 18th birthday since an adoption order can be made at any time up to the 19th birthday.

An adoption order will make the adoptive parents the child’s legal parents, which means that the birth parents are no longer the child’s legal parents.

To assess whether an adoption order is an appropriate step, there are three specific circumstances that need to be considered:

Has the court already assessed that the birth parent’s parental responsibility should cease due to mental capacity or the child’s welfare must be placed above parental consent?
Have the child’s birth parents already consented to an adoption order?
Has the child lived with the prospective adopter for the required amount of time?

Adopting a child

Adoption is a way of providing a child or children who cannot be raised by their own parents, with a new family. Adoption is a legal procedure which transfers the parental responsibility for the child to the adoptive parents. An adoption cannot be reversed once the adoption order has been granted, except in very rare circumstances. A child who is adopted no longer retains any legal ties with their birth mother and father and becomes a full member of the new family and usually changes their surname to that of their adoptive parents.

What is the difference between adoption and fostering?

Fostering a child is usually a temporary arrangement. The responsibility for the child in foster care is shared between the carers, the local authority and the child’s parents. Sometimes fostering is a long-term plan, often referred to as ‘permanent fostering’ but this doesn’t provide the child with the same legal security as adoption does, for either the child or the fostering family, but it can be the right solution for some children.

Who are the children who need to be adopted?

In the UK there are around 6,000 children who need to be adopted every year. Many of these children are of school age and over 50% of them are brothers and sisters who would need to be placed together. These children come from a wide variety of different religious and ethnic backgrounds. Among those needing to be adopted are disabled children and some whose future development remains uncertain. Some children will have experienced abuse and or been neglected and all of them will have experienced moving around and uncertainty which may mean that their behaviour can be challenging.

Rules on adoption – who can adopt?

To adopt you have to be over the age of 21 and happy to make space in your life and home for a child. You need to be patient, flexible and energetic, and determined to make a real difference to a child’s life. There is no upper age limit to adoption. You can still adopt if you are single. You can adopt if you are an unmarried couple – heterosexual, lesbian or gay. Having a disability is not a barrier to adoption, provided you can care for the child. Whatever ethnic background you are from, you can still adopt. You don’t have to own your own home – if you have the space and security to care for a child as they grow up you will be considered. Being on a low income or benefits should not stop you adopting – you may be eligible for support or benefits. You can adopt even if you already have children, and you can adopt more than one child at at time, some children have siblings also waiting to be adopted. You need to have been living in the British Isles for at least a year to apply to adopt. If you have a criminal record this would be carefully looked into but, apart from some offences against children, won’t necessarily rule someone out.

How do you apply to adopt?

To adopt you need to apply through an adoption agency. In England and Wales, most adoption agencies are part of the local authority children’s services. Some adoption agencies are voluntary organisations which you can find through the Consortium of Voluntary Adoption Agencies. You can find a local adoption agency through BAAF’s adoption agency directory or find your local authority or voluntary adoption agency on the internet. You can contact several adoption agencies initially but it is only possible to follow through an adoption application with one agency.

How do you get approved to adopt?

In England and Wales there is now a two-stage adoption process which takes about six months for social workers from an adoption agency to get to know prospective adopters, assess them and help prepare them for the task ahead. Confidential enquiries will be made of the local social services or social work department and the police. Applicants will be examined by their GP and will be asked to provide personal references from at least two friends. The agency’s independent adoption panel will consider a report on the application and recommend whether or not applicants should be approved as adopters who will be given the opportunity to meet the panel.

How are approved adopters matched with a child?

After prospective adopters are approved, their agency will try and match them with a child. They can also enquire about children being profiled in Be My Parent and other family-finding publications, like Adoption Today and in local media. In England and Wales, agencies also refer prospective adopters to the Adoption Register for England and Wales which links waiting children with waiting approved adopters. The proposed match will be presented to an adoption panel who will recommend whether to proceed with the placement.

What happens when the child moves in?

The child will move to live with their new parent/s after a planned period of introductions, which lasts a few weeks or a month or two, depending on the child’s needs. Social workers will remain involved to support the new family and the child at least until an adoption order is made.

How is adoption made legal?

There are certain minimum periods for which the child must live with the adopters before an application can be made to the court. A birth mother cannot give consent to adoption until her child is at least six weeks old. If birth parents do not agree to adoption, there are circumstances in which the court can override their wishes. In many cases the question of consent will be considered by the court before the child is placed for adoption. A children’s guardian will be appointed by the court to investigate and give advice to the court on the child’s best interests. In some circumstances, it will be necessary for the question of consent to be considered when the adopters actually apply for the final adoption order.

Should children be told that they are adopted?

Yes. Children should be raised knowing they were adopted. Adoptive parents should give appropriate information to the child from the time the child is little and as they grow up. BAAF’s book, ‘Talking about Adoption to your Adopted Child’ provides much more information. Adopted children identify with their adopted family but also have their own identity as an adopted child. Some children may need to ask questions to understand what has happened in their life, especially if their adoption brings them into a new culture or environment. This can be the same whether the child is adopted at birth or as an older child. As adoptive parents you can positively influence how your child feels about their identity. Find out as much as you can about your child’s background, or culture, and encourage them to talk openly about this part of who they are. Confusion or questions about who we are come up for most of us at some time in our lives. Appreciating your child’s identity and positively tackling issues as they come up will help your child understand that they should acknowledge and be proud of who they are.

Do birth parents and other relatives have any contact with their child after adoption?

It is common for there to be an exchange of written information often including photographs, perhaps once or twice a year, via the adoption agency. There will be unique arrangements for each individual child which may mean direct contact for some children with various members of their birth family, including grandparents and brothers and sisters who may be placed elsewhere. Sometimes there will also be contact with birth parents.

Orders for contact can be made by the court – if this is best for the child – and these are becoming more common as the ‘secrecy’ of adoption that used to be prevalent, reduces following recent research as to the benefits of contact.

Do adopted children want to trace their birth parents?

Most adopted children are curious about their origins, but this doesn’t mean that they don’t love their adoptive parents. Since 1975 adopted people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have had the right to see their original birth certificate when they reach the age of 18. Some people are satisfied with the fuller knowledge and understanding gained in this way, while others want to try to trace their birth parents or other family members. For more information, advice about searching and your feelings about this visit the Adoption Search Reunion website www.adoptionsearchreunion.org.uk.

What about adopting from abroad?

Often people hear about the distress of children in other countries and want to offer to adopt one of them but children’s best interests are not necessarily served by being adopted away from their own countries, their culture and their extended family. You can adopt a child from overseas if: they can’t be cared for in a safe environment in their own country; the adoption would be in their best interests; the adopter has been assessed as eligible and suitable to adopt from overseas by an adoption agency in the UK. If you want to adopt a child from overseas, you should contact either your local council or a voluntary adoption agency that deals with overseas adoption. The adoption process is similar to a UK adoption and will be done by a UK adoption agency that may charge a fee. BAAF’s Advice Note on Intercountry Adoption, covers the procedures, legal requirements and where to obtain further information. The Intercountry Adoption Centre can also offer help and advice. Their number is 0870 5168742.

Inter-country adoption

It is an offence to write an unauthorised home study report on prospective applicants for a foreign adoption order. Other offences may be committed if children are brought into the UK without following the proper procedures. The UK has ratified The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption 1993. This means that in many cases, provided an adoption order is obtained in the child’s country of origin, it will not be necessary for the applicants to obtain an order in the UK also. Where the child’s country of origin has not ratified the Hague Convention, the procedures are more stringent. Applications for adoption in the UK are still necessary and may be transferred to the High Court Family Division.

What about adoption by step-parents?

Sometimes step-parents want to adopt the children from the previous relationship of their new partner. If this happens, the child’s legal links with their absent birth parent and wider family will be broken. Alternative ways of settling the child’s situation may be better for some children.

I am an adoptive parent. Can you advise me where to get support?

Adoption UK was founded by adoptive parents to offer support, information, advice and encouragement to prospective and established adopters. Visit www.adoptionuk.org.uk for more information. You can read a wide range of adoption-related features in Adoption Today magazine which comes free as part of the Adoption UK membership package.

This information is based on an article by The British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

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